Wells in the Context of Environmental, Sanitary, and Ethnocultural Perspectives

Abstract

Climate change in recent decades, marked by global warming, has increasingly highlighted the vital role of water resources for human survival. Wells has served as a source of drinking water from ancient times to the present day. In essence, the design and structure of the well have remained unchanged over the centuries and millennia, with only its technical components – related to extracting water from the depths – having been modernized. Human life depends on water consumption, and this water must be of high quality and comply with sanitary and environmental standards established by specialized agencies in this field. In folk traditions associated with wells, strict rules are observed regarding maintaining cleanliness, annual well cleaning, as well as strict requirements for protecting the well area from any contamination caused by nature or humans. In cases where animals or birds accidentally fell into a well, people resorted to cleaning it with the direct involvement of a well-digger. If, for various reasons, a person fell into a well and died, the well was filled in after the body was removed, and it ceased to be a source of water. The purity of the water in the well was directly linked to the physical purity of the well-master, to the righteousness of his thoughts and deeds, and to his strong faith, piety, and devotion.